On Thursday, a state judge in Bergen County, N.J., ordered a report that explains Horizon's rationale for its OMNIA hospital groupings be released to a group of hospitals that filed lawsuits against the health plan, reports The Record.
The report conducted by McKinsey & Co. gave quality scores to New Jersey hospitals, compared their costs and projected how many patients would stop going to the non-preferred, or Tier 2, hospitals in preference of Tier 1 facilities, depending on how the hospitals were grouped, according to the article.
Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and five other New Jersey hospitals allege that releasing the report will show the hospitals were arbitrarily excluded from the Tier 1 group, according to the lawsuit.
The hospitals also argue Horizon's marketing has hurt their respective images by implying Tier 1 hospitals are superior to those in other Tiers.
Horizon's lawyers argued releasing the report, which contains proprietary business information, would cause the health plan irreparable harm and have promised to challenge the ruling, reports The Record.
Earlier this week, a judge in MiddlesexCounty also ordered Horizon's report be released in a separate case brought by St. Peter's UniversityHospital in New Brunswick, according to the article.